


Kamino University

by Octave



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:48:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26838475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Octave/pseuds/Octave
Summary: its a college/coffee shop AU ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Relationships: Riyo Chuchi/CC-1010 | Fox
Comments: 24
Kudos: 60





	1. Chapter 1

Fox stares at the clock through heavy eyelids. 6:01 AM. He pulls the blanket further up over his head with a grumble. The sounds of Thorn and Thire’s morning shenanigans have started too early today. Normally it wouldn’t be a problem, but today is Fox's first day off in three weeks. 

Between studying for finals, working morning shifts, attending classes, applying for internships, and picking up his coworkers evening shifts for a little extra cash, it’s a miracle he’s had any time to breathe. But his finals are over, he’s not taking any summer classes, and he’s already submitted his applications to several criminal justice internships, so he’s making a point to relax and enjoy his time this summer. 

A loud crash vibrates through their small dorm followed by the sounds of Thorn and Thire aggressively shushing each other. 

Or at least Fox is trying to relax and enjoy his time this summer.

He throws his blanket off and gets up, stretching out a kink in his back from the horrible mattresses they’re given in student housing. He glances across the room to find his roommate, Stone, asleep, and dead to the world as usual, despite the ruckus coming from their common area. Fox throws a shirt on and stumbles out to find Thire attempting to clean a batter of some kind from the floor while Thorn mixes up another batch of the same mixture in one of the few dishes they haven’t already dirtied this morning to add to their ever growing pile in the sink. 

They both pause, giving Fox a deer in the headlights stare. Before Fox can even begin to ask what is going on they both try to explain simultaneously before Thorn concedes first.

“Thorn found a muffin recipe online that you can make in the microwave!” Thire explains, a little too giddy for someone awake at 6 AM, as he continues to mop up the mess with a rag.

“Then what is it doing all over the floor instead of in the microwave?” Fox asks with a sigh.

“Thorn also managed to knock this bowl off of the table trying to stir it quick like they do in those food shows,” Thire says with a glare towards the accused.

“It’s not my fault! We don’t have a whisk so I’m being forced to use a spoon!”

“I doubt the spoon is your problem,” Thire mocks as he cleans up the last bit of spilled batter.

Fox rubs his eyes until he sees stars. He can’t even think right now. It’s too early for this and he just wants to crawl back into bed. So much for a relaxing day off.

Although he realizes that he should have known that today would be no different. Thorn and Thire are both morning people and have been since the day the four of them were all assigned to be roommates as freshmen two years ago. Not even the fact that they’ve also both finished their finals for this semester and have zero obligations for the day could keep them in bed past 5:30 AM.

“Is that my shirt?” Fox deadpans, pointing to the apparent rag that Thire used to mop up the mess.

Thire holds the wadded up cloth over the sink and lets it fall open, batter dripping off of it, to reveal Fox’s Kamino University Forensic Society club shirt. “Huh, I guess it is.” He starts rinsing the batter off, “I’ll add it to my laundry for you.”

“Next batch is ready!” Thorn sings cheerfully as he pours the batter into every mug they collectively own. Thire quickly abandons Fox’s shirt in the sink to rush over to the table to watch, bringing more mugs he cleaned that morning to be filled.

Fox is about to ask them to keep the volume down so he can go back to sleep before he’s summoned back to his room by the sound of his phone ringing. 

Despite his phone being on full volume, Stone is still passed out in his bed. Fox wishes he was capable of sleeping like the dead the way Stone does. 

He picks up his phone and sees that it’s Rex. He considers letting it go to voicemail, it is six in the morning after all, what could he possibly want? Unless it’s an emergency. “Hey Rex,” he answers.

“Thank god you’re awake.”

“Yeah barely,” Fox mumbles, falling back into his bed.

Rex continues like he didn’t hear, “can you cover my shift this morning?” He doesn’t give a reason, but Fox knows Rex well enough to know that he’s probably desperate for time to study for his last final this evening.

Fox checks the clock, 6:05 AM. “You mean your shift that started five minutes ago?”

Silence from Rex’s end, but Fox can hear him thinking. Fox sighs, and rubs his eyes again. His day already started off on the wrong foot, what’s one more thing he decides. 

“Yeah I’ll cover you this morning, but you owe me again.”

“Fox THANK YOU! You have no idea how much I nee-“ Fox hangs up on him, he doesn’t need one of Rex’s long drawn out explanations making him even more late now. 

Fox throws on a clean pair of plants, pulls a solid tee from the closet, and grabs his red bomber jacket from the back of his desk chair. He manages to remember to brush his teeth before grabbing his phone, wallet and keys and heading for the door. Thorn cheerfully hands him a muffin in a mug on his way out.

Clone Coffee sits on the opposite side of campus from the dorms. Normally Fox doesn’t mind the walk, but the campus is huge, the wind is howling, and it’s pouring rain. He could save 10 minutes or so by simply running across campus, but he’d be soaked by the time he gets there. So, he elects to wait for the campus shuttle which has a stop right in front of the shop.

He stands under the shuttle stop overhang for a few minutes, watching the sun begin to rise behind the Chemistry building as he waits. Thorn never gave him a spoon for his mug muffin and he’s not about to eat it with his hands so he decides to hang on to it until he gets to work. 

He sees the shuttle round the corner down the street and he readies himself to burst through the rain to get inside as quickly as possible. 

Suddenly, a small shrieking sound grabs his attention and he turns to find a small woman scrambling in the rain in front of the library to collect her books and papers that are now flying every which direction in the wind and rain. Fox doesn’t think twice before abandoning the shuttle to run and help, grabbing as many flying papers as he can until he reaches her. He grabs her soaking books off the ground as she continues to chase after the last paper that is still sailing with great speed down the sidewalk.

Fox dashes towards the entrance to the library to wait for her. He watches as she jumps to catch the last page from the air. She quickly returns and steps out of the rain and under the overhang of the library entrance next to Fox. 

“Thank you so much for coming to help me, you didn’t have to but thank you,” she says. She sounds clearly winded and distressed, but smiles at him nonetheless.

“S‘alright” Fox says, not realizing that he’s staring. She has long, straight hair dyed pastel purple and bright golden eyes. A purple messenger bag is draped over one shoulder and she's wearing a light blue poncho over a pair of jean overalls. She also has long, golden, dangling earrings that shake and jingle with every movement of her head and electric green eyeshadow that make it hard for Fox to tear his eyes from her.

She shuffles her things to one hand so that she can retrieve her books and papers from him with the other. He obliges after a short hesitation, mumbling to himself and shuffling his feet as he hands her things over. 

There’s an awkward pause, “well then…” she says which seems to finally snap Fox from his daydream as he clears his throat and stands a little straighter, making a point to stare anywhere but at her. He looks at his muffin to find the mug full of rain water. 

“I’m afraid I’ve made you miss your bus,” she states. They both look in the direction of the shuttle stop in time to see the shuttle driving away. Fox lets out a deep, heavy sigh. “And I’ve made you ruin your coffee, I’m so sorry.”

“S’alright,” he says again, “it’s not even-“

“I’m Riyo by the way,” she says, cutting him off.

“Hm?” Fox looks down at her to find her smiling, hand outstretched under her pile of books.

“Oh, I’m Fox,” he says, reaching out to shake her hand, which makes him feel like he’s shaking hands with a robot because of the number of rings she has on. 

“Well, Fox, thank you again for helping me this morning. You’ve saved me from a great deal of headaches,” she says gesturing to her rain-stained pile of papers.

“It was nothing,” he shrugs. “I’d hate for it to have happened to me and have no one help is all.”

Riyo smiles, “where were you headed this morning?”

Fox is mildly bewildered at how she can be so calm and cheerful after what would’ve been enough to ruin his whole day. “I was on my way to Clone Coffee,” he says.

“May I walk you there?” She asks, awkwardly pulling an umbrella from her messenger bag.

“What?” Fox blushes. 

She opens her umbrella, it’s also blue and purple. She clearly has a favorite color.

“I said may I walk you there? It’s the least I could do for making you miss your bus, besides it’s faster to walk there than ride that thing.”

Fox doesn’t say anything and only nods. 

“And you have to let me replace your coffee for you, I've made quite a mess of your morning.”

Fox lifts his mug and furrows his eyebrows slightly, “this isn’t- I work there. I’m on my way to work.”

“Oh.” She readjusts her books to keep them from slipping out of her arm again. “Well I’d still like to walk you there if you’ll let me then,” she says with a wave of her umbrella.

Fox only nods again. 

She struggles to hold her umbrella high enough to cover the both of them. Wordlessly, Fox takes the umbrella and holds it comfortably for both of them. Riyo smiles up at him and stands close to be covered, pressing against his side. Fox stares wide eyed ahead as they walk, not thinking that this is how his morning would go.

They walk in silence most of the way, or rather Fox walks in silence most of the way. Riyo doesn’t stop telling him about an exam that she has this morning that she was studying for all night, or the classes she took this semester, or how unreasonable one of her professors is. By the time they reach Clone Coffee, Fox feels as though he knows her better than he knows some of his own friends.

“Here’s your stop,” Riyo says cheerfully. 

Fox carefully hands her umbrella back as she juggles her books to one hand to grab it from him. They stand in awkward silence for a few seconds. Fox finds himself wishing that the moment would simultaneously last forever and end immediately. 

Fox is the one that breaks the silence with a cough. “I should go in, I’m already late,” he says gesturing towards the door.

“Oh of course,” she smiles up at him for what is probably the hundredth time this morning. “Thank you again for helping me, Fox. It was really nice to meet you.”

“Oh uhm sure, and you too,” he manages to say, hoping that his voice doesn’t betray his outward calm demeanor, all the while his brain is screaming at him to invite her in for a coffee on the house before her exam. 

“And thank you for walking me here,” he adds quickly instead, gesturing to her umbrella. 

“Well, I’ll see you around Fox!” She turns on her heel and starts down the sidewalk. “Try to stay dry today!” She shouts from over her shoulder.

He watches her for a few seconds longer as she walks away into the rain, and he smiles. 

That smile doesn’t last long however, as the moment he steps inside Clone Coffee he bumps into the last person in line that is almost out the door.

“Ah shit,” he whispers, but it doesn’t go unheard by a few of the shop’s patrons. He steps past the line, receiving several contemptuous looks and a few jeers about cutting in line, all of which stop the moment he steps behind the counter. He sets his ruined muffin down in the sink in the back, throws on one of their grey uniform aprons, and heads to the register to help with taking orders.

“Where’s Rex,” the other, elderly barista at the counter asks in between guests.

“He’s sick, called me to cover.”

“Why didn’t he call me?”

“You know he's scared of disappointing you, 99” Fox says, writing a guest's name on their cup, “besides I’m here now, and I can handle this if you want to help Wolffe knock all of the drinks out.” 

The older man takes a step back from the counter, giving Fox a mocking, wide-eyed stare. 

99 opened Clone Coffee on the campus of the university when he was a student there. He’d never even finished his degree, being too busy working and running his shop. He got his nickname from the answer he gave all the boys when they asked him how long ago it was that he opened the shop or how old he was. He’d look the boys right in the eye and with a straight face tell them it was 99 years ago. It always made the boys laugh and that made 99 smile. He enjoyed their little nickname for him.

“Giving me orders now huh?” he says as he turns to help Wolffe make the drinks. “I thought I was the boss here.”

“Maybe I’m after your job,” Fox deadpans, handing a guest their change and receipt.

“Ask him about that girl that walked him here,” Wolffe says with a smirk, as he tops a cup with whipped cream and chocolate shavings, calling out the guest’s name.

99 lets out a low laugh, but Fox is quick to turn to Wolffe and whisper, “can we please just get through the morning rush.”

“I agree with our commander,” 99 says with a wink.

Guests come and go and they manage to make it through the morning rush with only three irritated customers complaining about the long lines and one complaining that their iced coffee was too cold. Fox is glad that Wolffe doesn’t deal with customers. He's pretty sure the man’s eyes would roll right out of the back of his skull at the things that some of these people say, and then Fox would be left to deal with their complaints about Wolffe’s rude comebacks. 

They make it to 10 AM before they have a moment of peace in the shop. Only a single student sits in the corner with their hazelnut macchiato in one hand and a book in the other. 

“I’m going to get some work done on my computer, holler if it gets busy again,” 99 says dropping a dish rag into the sink as he hobbles into the back.

Once he’s gone Wolffe is quick to claim his break, “I’m gonna step outside for a smoke.”

Fox frequently finds himself left alone in the front of the shop, but he doesn’t mind it. It gives him time to be alone with his thoughts, a luxury he can’t usually afford between classes, roommates, and studying. 

He grabs a broom and heads to sweep up the crumbles of coffee cake and raspberry scone under a few of the tables. He doesn’t get even a minute into his me-time before Wolffe is barging back in through the door, putting his cigarette out in the palm of his hand, beelining it to get behind the counter. “Your girlfriend is coming.”

“What?” Fox says confused.

Wolffe widens his eyes in the direction of the door in response. Fox looks up to see Riyo walking by the windows in front of the shop with another girl. 

“Wolffe!” Fox growls, “she’s not-“ 

He’s cut off by the two girls entering the shop and Riyo’s attention is immediately on him.

“Fox!” She says, and he wonders if she ever doesn’t smile. 

Fox glances at Wolffe to find him wagging his eyebrows at him from behind the coffee grinder. He quickly puts Wolffe to the back of his mind.

“Hi Riyo,” he says, “how was your exam?”

“Aced it!” She exclaims, claiming her friend’s arm, “but I knew we would.” 

Fox glances towards the girl Riyo is clinging to. She has her hair done up in an extravagant updo pinned together with golden clips and accessories that Fox doesn’t know the name of. 

Following his eyes, Riyo starts, “Fox, this is Padme. I told her all about our little misadventure this morning.” Padme gives Riyo a sly smile at the mention.

Fox shifts on his feet awkwardly, broom still in hand. He’s known this girl for only a few hours and she’s already acting like they’ve been friends for years. He doesn’t quite understand it but he’s not about to question it either. He’s just glad she’s here again. 

“So…” Fox glances towards the counter to find Wolffe giving him two thumbs up. He quickly turns away to face Riyo. “Do you two want coffee?”

“Yes!” They both exclaim at the same time.

Fox rings them up at the counter. Padme orders an iced peach green tea and Riyo orders whatever Fox recommends for her. He makes her a dulce de leche latte, his go to drink for a rainy day, which is most days around here.

They sit near the window with their drinks, setting their backpacks and books down next to their chairs. 

“Do you have time to sit with us Fox?” Padme asks as Riyo sips her coffee, looking out the window. 

“I- uh,” Fox stutters before Wolffe is kicking him in the shins behind the counter. “Yeah I could spare a few minutes I think,” he says while staring daggers at his coworker. Wolffe simply continues washing dishes, acting unaware. 

Fox barely makes it to their table before what looks like an entire sorority enters the shop.

Fox and Wolffe both groan at the sight. 

“Sorry, duty calls,” Fox gives the girls a mock salute before heading back to the counter with a sigh of relief to deal with the sudden rush. 

Riyo and Padme take their time with their drinks, and Fox manages to get in a few words with them in between customers. He learns that Padme is also a junior majoring in Political Science, just like Riyo, which is how they met their freshman year. They’re both in the honors college and live together in an on campus apartment. Padme is signed up for a study abroad later in the summer in Naboo studying comparative law and Naboo’s court system. Riyo is still waiting to hear back about an internship in the fall semester with the Pantoran senator at the senate building in Coruscant while also preparing to present her undergraduate research on the ethnic and cultural impacts on world politics this summer. 

The girls eventually leave, waving goodbye to Fox as they turn out the door.

“So did you get her number?” Wolffe asks.

Fox throws an empty cup at him before grabbing another to write his current customer’s name on. Only he has to toss that cup out too after realizing he’s written “Riyo” on it.

He didn’t get her number.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> College shenanigans time (👁 ͜ʖ👁)

Riyo comes into the shop every few days from then on. Fox isn’t always there to greet her, but he’s sure to be made aware of her presence by Wolffe and 99, and now Rex and Bly who have been looped in.

Fox suspects she isn’t a big coffee drinker, based mainly on the fact that she always orders the “whatever it was you made for me that first time.” He tries to recommend a few other in season drinks to her with no success and her lack of dietary adventurousness surprises him. With her colorful (and in his opinion a bit eccentric) fashion sense, Fox had pinned her for a caffeine addict that knew their way around a coffee shop. But Fox has worked at Clone Coffee long enough to tell when someone is getting bored of a particular drink and he doesn’t want to give Riyo any reasons to stop coming. He reminds her that they do sell more than just coffee with a gesture towards their display case packed with an assortment of bagels, pastries, and other baked goods. This grants him an almost imperceptible sigh of relief from her.

He manages to invite her out one weekend, after some very aggressive shoving from Wolffe, to hang out with some of his friends.

“And of course Padme is invited as well,” he quickly adds, wiping down the same clean table in the shop over and over.

Riyo tries to hide her widening smile, “We’ll be there,” she replies, putting an end to his soon to be erosion of the table next to hers. She scribbles something down on a sheet of notebook paper and hands it to him before returning her attention to her laptop. It’s her phone number.

Fox is on cloud 9 the rest of the day, at least until it came time to leave that evening. “Should I wear this shirt? And have you seen my jacket?” Fox digs through his closet, pulling out clothes he didn’t even know he had. 

“I dunno, your shirts all look the same to me.” Stone lounges in his desk chair, tossing sharpened pencils at his cork board, none of which have stuck and all clack loudly onto the tile floor.

It didn’t take long for word about Fox’s new friend, Riyo, to reach his roommates. Although Thorn seemed to be the only one of the bunch to be truly invested in the information, using it as fodder for his playful teasing. 

Fox groans, digging through his laundry for his jacket.

“You guys ready yet?” Thire asks, walking into their room before stopping, seeing the avalanche that Fox has created spilling out from his closet. “Uh, do you need help?”

Still digging through his laundry, Fox pulls his red bomber jacket from the bottom of the pile with an elated sigh. More of Stone’s pencils clack to the floor.

“You are not wearing that tonight,” Thire says, sounding very much like the mom friend of the group as he strides to Fox’s side.

“Why not?”

“Because you just pulled it out of your dirty laundry?”

“But-“

“Give it to me,” Thire says with authority, grabbing the jacket from Fox’s loose grasp. He gives the jacket one whiff before scrunching his nose at it. “Like I said, absolutely not.” He tosses the jacket back into Fox’s laundry pile.

“YES!” Stone yells.

The boys look over to see a single pencil stuck, lopsided and dangling, into his cork board.

“Well I’m ready to go,” Stone says, getting up and sliding on a pair of sandals and leaving the room.

Fox gives Thire a helpless look. Thire sighs and pulls out a plain tee and a pullover hoodie with some sports logo on it from Fox’s closet. “Casual, remember?” Thire tells him, handing Fox his clothes and giving him a pat on the shoulder. 

The boys arrive at the bar later than anticipated, although Fox seems to be the only one that cares about that. Thorn and Thire bolt with childish giddiness to snatch up their favorite lopsided table in the corner, Thire already folding a coaster to wedge under one of the legs to keep it from wobbling. Stone immediately heads for the bathroom and Fox takes that as a sign that he’s buying drinks this round, and he hates buying drinks here. With a sigh, he heads to the bar and before he can speak the bartender has 4 beers ready to hand over 

“The usual?” she says with a wink, handing the drinks over. Her head is shaved so as to show off a few tattoos. Fox smiles politely as he takes two drinks in each hand, her hand lingering on his for far too long during the exchange. “I’ll get your tab started for you and the boys,” she says with a sensual and, not so subtle, lick and bite of her bottom lip.

“Thank you,” Fox says, wanting desperately to turn and walk away with what he came for, but feeling stuck in place by some unspoken chivalrous law. Luckily, another customer needs her attention. She lets her hand fall from his and he watches her walk down the length of the bar with an exaggerated sway in her hips. 

“I think she likes you,” a familiar voice pipes up.

Surprised, Fox turns too quickly, sloshing a bit of the beer in the over filled glasses he’s holding right into Riyo’s face. “Oh god, Riyo!” Fox quickly sets his drinks back onto the bar and grabs more napkins than he needs from the dispenser. “I’m so sorry,” he starts to reach like he’s going to clean her face for her before stopping just short and awkwardly handing the napkins over to her. Riyo’s shock quickly, and easily, subsides into laughter as she takes the napkins from him. 

“You’re a bit jumpy today,” she says, dabbing the napkins on her face, careful with her makeup. Her eyeshadow is a deep purple today to match her dark lipstick, and her wrists, neck and ears are adorned with an abundance of eye-catching bedazzled jewelry. 

“Sorry,” he says, trying to smile. He fiddles with his hands for a moment before putting them in his pockets.

“And she’s really not my type,” he adds quickly, his voice cracking only slightly with the comment.

“What?” Riyo tosses the used napkins into a garbage bin next to the bar.

Fox covertly points behind himself to the bartender filling shot glasses, “Her-, I mean I wasn’t-”

Riyo laughs again and puts a hand on his arm, “Fox I was teasing. Now come on, I want you to meet Ahsoka and Anakin.”

Fox lets himself be dragged away, but not before delivering drinks to Thire and Thorn and leaving the third on the table for Stone to find when he eventually reappears.

They find Padme, Ahsoka, and Anakin seated outside on the bar’s back patio. Riyo introduces Fox to Anakin, Padme’s boyfriend, and Ahsoka, Anakin’s sister. Ahsoka isn’t quite 21 yet, but Fox catches her periodically throughout the night sneaking sips of her brother’s drinks over her own can of soda. Anakin has a prosthetic hand, which he’s not at all shy about, and Fox listens, enraptured, at the tale of how he lost his hand. Ahsoka cuts him short, insisting that he’s grossly embellishing his story and the two bicker as Padme laughs silently to the side.

They talk for a few minutes more before Fox suggests they join the boys inside where he introduces the whole gang to Thire and Thorn. They pull up another table and a few more chairs, squeezing in close to each other to be heard over the music and general rowdiness of the bar as the night carries on. Fox can feel the warm skin of Riyo’s arm against his as she giggles at Thorn’s retelling of the time he lost Stone at a house party and later found him unconscious on the roof. Fox tries not to stare at her lips as she takes a sip of her beer.

Time passes quickly. Fox listens as Riyo tells him about her day, making mental notes as she goes along. By the end of it he’s managed to weasel a confession out of her that she had never actually tried coffee before the day they met. 

Clearly listening in on their conversation, Thorn cuts in, “that’s ok Riyo, our boy Fox here is pretty irresistible.” A little tipsy, he adds with a wink and a nod “I’d be making up stories too just to see him everyday.”

Riyo blushes with nervous laughter and Fox stares daggers at his dormmate. “Thorn-”

Suddenly, the sound of speakers crackling and the buzz of a microphone all but silences the nearly drunk patrons filling the small space.

Riyo tries to lean up to Fox’s ear to ask him what’s happening before she’s silenced by the awful sound of a poor rendition of Donna Summer’s “Last Dance”. The group’s attention is pulled to the back of the room, where weak floodlights are illuminating a small stage to reveal Stone and Rex, blazed as can be, singing karaoke. 

The whole room explodes into the sound of raucous laughter, applause, and whistling as the boys continue. Fox and Thire glance towards the bartender to find her watching the scene with defeated exhaustion. “You’d think she’d figure it out by now that if she didn’t want Stone turning every night here into karaoke night that she should really be locking that machine up,” Thire laughs into Fox’s ear.

The night continues with one drunk patron after the next stumbling up to give their best performance of their favorite karaoke hits. Wanting to hear more, Ahsoka bets Rex that he can’t top his earlier performance. His own roommate, Jesse, is the one to finally pull him off the stage, causing Ahsoka to laugh until soda comes out of her nose. “You’re putting Britney Spears to shame,” Jesse jokes as he yanks Rex back to their table. 

Anakin manages to convince Padme to sing a duet with him, although it turns more into Anakin singing alone with Padme bursting into laughter every time her lines on the karaoke machine light up. Ahsoka steals the moment to finish off her brother’s drink, begging Thorn to replace it for her before Anakin gets back to the table. Thorn of course obliges. 

Fox orders another round of drinks for his roommates and new friends. He always has fun when he goes out with the guys, but there’s something about tonight that’s making him enjoy it more. He sets a drink down for Riyo before taking his seat next to her and he actually feels a little tipsy. She smiles, thanking him, letting her leg brush against his under the table as she takes a small, delicate sip.

But of course, for Fox, all good things never seem to last long enough. Thorn barrels back to their table after believing that he nailed “Take Me Home Country Roads”. “Alright, is’ your turn!” Thorn nearly slurs his words, pointing directly at Riyo. 

Fox feels her stiffen and shrink in her seat. “No, no, I’m alright, thank you,” she manages to say, although barely audible.

“C’mon! Riyo! Riyo! Riyo!” Thorn quickly has the rest of the room chanting with him, banging on their tables.

Riyo turns bright red and Fox senses an impending disaster if Thorn’s prodding continues. Fox tosses back the last of his beer and stands, “actually Thorn, it’s my turn.” The whole bar erupts in a drunken cheer for him. Riyo visibly deflates in her seat. Fox gives her a subtle wink and her shoulder a gentle squeeze as he passes her to pick his karaoke song. 

The cheering quickly dissolves when the music starts and Fox begins singing Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” and the mood of the crowd quickly shifts from rowdy and intoxicated to contentedly drunk. He sways a little as he sings, occasionally glancing towards Riyo.

Riyo is apparently over her embarrassment of having been called out, because she watches Fox, captivated and shocked at the sounds of his voice. “He upstages us like this every single time,” Thire leans over to say to Riyo with a laugh. She barely registers Thire’s comment. She can only keep staring at him, listening to him sing with a voice like velvet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your comments and nice words! I hope you are enjoying this ♥ T____T ♥  
> This chapter was originally over twice as long but I decided to split it into two chapters. Next chapter is technically finished so I might post it sooner rather than later but no promises...  
> ( ͡ ͡° ͜ ʖ ͡ ͡°)  
> \╭☞ \╭☞


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fox is a shy mess, but a HOT shy mess ᕦ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ᕤ

Fox decides that the next time he asks Riyo out, it won’t be to the bar (and if he’s real bold, it won’t be with the rest of their friends present and accounted for either).

“So what’s today’s chosen literature?” Fox is the only one working at Clone Coffee this morning. He conveniently chooses to wipe down the table next to where Riyo sits with her laptop and notebook at the ready. 

“My presentation for the undergraduate research showcase is only a few weeks away,” she says without taking her eyes from her laptop. 

“Sounds very illustrious,” he comments as he moves to the next table. Fox has seen her working on this in the shop for the past several days now.

She throws her pen and notebook down with a huff, “I’ve given presentations before, but never to this many people.” Riyo worries her bottom lip slightly. “It’s going to be in front of all of my advisors and professors from across the department. It’s going to be so much more embarrassing if I mess something up.” She picks her pen back up, “it has to be perfect.”

Her eyes move from her laptop screen for the first time when Fox sits down in the chair across from her. “Well if you’re worried about your presentation skills, you’re not going to get very far without practicing the presentation part,” he says matter of factly.

She gives him a deer in the headlights stare. 

“Let’s hear what you've got,” Fox prods.

“You want me to present my research to you?” she replies, her voice squeaking in surprise.

Fox nods.

“Right here? Right now?”

Fox nods again.

She quickly looks around and surveys the shop. She can see Rex and Wolffe talking at one of the tables just outside, Wolffe with his signature unlit cigarette tucked behind his ear. The campus looks barren otherwise, although it usually is at this time of the year between semesters, so the odds of a customer walking in are slim. They’re the only ones inside. Her eyes are drawn back to Fox at the sound of him pulling his chair up enough to rest his elbows on the table, giving her his full attention. 

“I- I can’t, I haven’t solidified my major talking points yet and I still don’t have my opener and-,” Fox figures that it’s possible that she would have rattled off excuses until the sun set, but her train of thought is broken by the sudden and unexpected arrival of a pair of customers. 

“If you’ll excuse me,” Fox says with a sly grin as he gets up to assist his inconveniently timed customers.

Ringing them up ends up taking a lot longer than Fox anticipated. The pair are clearly a couple and are clearly infatuated with each other. They pay more attention to incessantly complimenting each other instead of giving Fox their drink orders so he can get on with his day. He finally gets a drink order out of both of them (two iced vanilla lattes, how original Fox thinks). 

By the time he’s turned around again to hand them their drinks, he catches sight of Riyo rushing out of the shop, her messenger bag clutched tightly to her chest. She almost runs right into Rex and Wolffe as they’re coming in, late, for their afternoon shifts. 

“Now what did you do this time to scare her off like that?” Wolffe chides as he sidesteps the happy couple, lattes in hand.

Fox ignores both of their continuing remarks and watches as the shape of her disappears as she gets further and further from the shop.

She doesn’t come back to Clone Coffee after that. Several days pass and Fox doesn’t catch sight of her anywhere on campus. He feels guilty for having put her on the spot, remembering her apprehension at the idea of singing karaoke in front of a bar full of strangers. Although he didn’t expect to find that same apprehension at the prospect of presenting her research to one friend.

Fox manages to mess up about every fifth drink he makes one evening shift, until 99 finally tells him to go home. Fox wanders aimlessly across campus instead, the sky quickly becoming overcast, informing him that rain is on its way yet again. 

He thinks about calling her, but the thought sends a knot into the pit of his stomach. He pulls out his phone and opens a new text message and begins to type.

_Hey Riyo, it’s Fox from Clone Coffee_

No, that’s stupid, she already knows who he is, Fox thinks. He doesn't need to mention his work.

_Hey Riyo, it’s Fox_

No, she already has his number. She’ll know it’s him he doesn't need to use his name.

_Hey Riyo_

Fox stops dead in his tracks on the sidewalk, staring at his phone. His fingers hovering over the keyboard for an eternity of seconds before he begins to type again.

_I apologize for the other day, I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. Just want to make sure you’re ok._

He hits send before he can overthink the act any more than he already has. Looking up from his phone, Fox sees that he’s wandered right to the entrance of the library. He remembers their first meeting and has the short lived idea of going inside to see if he’ll stumble across her. He quickly decides against it, the thought alone making him feel stalkerish. 

The rain that has been threatening to fall since he left work finally begins to trickle down and within seconds it becomes a downpour. The sky turns dark fast as the late evening sets in and Fox knows the rain isn’t going to let up anytime soon. He’s close enough to his dorm that he can dash through the rain and arrive only minimally soaked, only he’s pulled from this plan of action by the sight of a familiar light blue blur in the corner of his eye. He looks over in the direction of the shuttle stop to see Riyo walking through the rain, with the hood of her poncho pulled up over her head, her messenger bag cradled to her chest. 

He suddenly doesn’t care that it’s pouring rain. He wants to see her, but he’s frozen to the spot at the thought of what he would say when he reaches her. Instead he just watches her walk in the direction of the parking lot, and it only takes a few seconds of this for him to feel like a creep. He turns to head for his dorm.

He walks through the rain, already soaked to the bone after only a few seconds. His sense of gravity pulls his gaze once more in Riyo’s direction. He glances towards the parking lot, only now she’s not alone. 

Fox watches as a car, lights out, erratically swerves around the corner and into the parking lot. The car fishtails as it drifts uncontrollably at a high speed. He’s already sprinting towards Riyo who still hasn’t noticed the vehicle. He shouts her name but she doesn’t hear him.

A bead of sweat drips down his nose as he runs, or maybe it’s the rain, he can’t tell. She finally sees him running at her and shouting. Clearly startled and confused, she stops in her tracks and pulls out one ear bud. She only has enough time to say his name before he’s tackling her to the ground just in time for the car to fly past them, screeching through the parking lot before jumping the curb and coming to a stop in the grass just beyond the shuttle stop.

Fox turns to the vehicle in time to watch a drunk student stagger out of the car and promptly throw up and then pass out on the lawn. 

Below him, Riyo is also watching the scene unfold, but within seconds their attention is fully on each other. Almost all of Fox’s weight has Riyo pinned to the ground. His forearms frame her face on the asphalt and the rain batters his back and slides down his face to drip onto hers. 

“Fox…” Riyo barely whispers his name. She’s still clutching her bag to her chest under him.

Fox’s eyes wander across her face, surveying for signs of damage, and he feels his fitness watch vibrate to alert him that his heart rate is too high. 

Suddenly aware of their proximity, blush spreads across Fox’s cheeks. He clears his throat as he moves off of her, offering her a hand to help her off the ground. She winces as she gets up and he’s afraid to let go of her. She braces herself against him, clutching her bag with one hand and his arm with the other. “I think that’s going to leave a mark,” she says. 

“Are you alright?”

She squeezes his arm gently and smiles up at him, “I- I think so.”

“I’m going to call campus police, let’s get out of the rain,” Fox says while guiding her towards the overhang of the shuttle stop. He pulls out his phone and dials 911, only leaving Riyo’s side to check on the inebriated idiot that almost took her life once he’s sure that she’s ok. But Riyo, letting go of Fox’s hand, glides past the shuttle stop and over to the passed out student. She kneels and checks to make sure he’s still breathing. Fox is at her side shortly, helping her to roll the student onto his side while he talks to the emergency dispatcher. “They’re on their way,” he says. 

They both give statements from the cover of the shuttle stop when the police arrive. The student, still passed out, is taken away in an ambulance. Before long, the police are leaving the scene as well, having caution taped off the vehicle for a tow truck to deal with in the morning.

With the tension and excitement of the moment subsiding, everything becomes silent with the exception of the falling rain. Fox stares at the vehicle that could have just ended Riyo’s life and feels a tightness in his chest. Before he realizes it, Riyo’s arms are around him and she’s crying into his shirt. He wraps one arm around her back and his other hand finds its way to the back of her head, holding her close. He would stay there like that all night if he had to. He would do whatever it took to make Riyo feel safe and to see her smile again. 

Her sobs break into small hiccups. She brings her hands to her front, balled into little fists, and rests them on Fox’s chest. She looks at him but doesn’t say anything.

“Can I walk you home?” Fox asks softly.

Riyo shakes her head yes as a few stray tears fall down her cheeks. 

Fox smiles softly. “Let’s just grab an umbrella first, my dorm is right here,” he says, pointing behind himself.

Hand in hand, they walk through the rain from the safety of the shuttle stop to the dorms. Once inside the hallway, and under the harsh fluorescent lighting, they realize how sloppy and miserable they look. Soaked to the bone and leaving puddles in their wake, they trudge down the hallway, reaching Fox’s dorm at the very end.

“I’ll wait out here,” Riyo whispers hoarsely.

“My roommates are at a party tonight,” Fox says as he unlocks and opens the door, revealing a dimly lit common area. “No need to worry about the peanut gallery,” he smiles at her and she follows him inside.

The room is unsurprisingly neat and tidy, and for the first time ever Fox is glad about Thire’s annoyingly obsessive need to clean. 

“Let me just grab my umbrella,” he says.

“Do you have a towel?” Riyo asks in a low voice, like she’s afraid she might break if she speaks any louder. 

“Yeah hang on.”

Fox leaves her alone in the common room and walks into his room. He’s definitely not inviting her in here. Thire’s range doesn’t extend this far, and as much as he doesn’t want to admit it, between Stone and himself, they’re pretty sloppy. 

He only has to rummage through his things for a few seconds before he manages to find his umbrella. He pauses when he sees that Thire apparently did his laundry for him again. All neat and folded, several shirts, a few pairs of pants, and a beach towel lay in a pile on his bed. He grabs a shirt, a pair of sweatpants, and the towel and heads back into the common room.

Riyo is still glued to the same spot he left her in, a small puddle forming around her feet. 

“I brought some dry clothes if you want to change,” Fox says, not making eye contact.

Riyo stares at him, emotionless.

“I mean you don’t have to,” he says quickly. “I know we’re walking to your dorm now, but I just figured…” his thought trails off and away from him as he blushes a fierce shade of red.

Riyo takes the towel and clothes from him and gives him a small smile. “Thank you Fox.”

He feels his face heat up and immediately turns away. “The bathroom is over there, you can change in there,” he says quickly, pointing to another door at the corner of the room. 

She leaves to change and Fox returns to his room to do the same. He peels himself out of his wet clothes and pulls on a pair of dark jeans, a plain tee and his bomber jacket. He moves to the couch in the common room to wait for Riyo to finish changing.

After another minute or so, she comes out of the bathroom, wet clothes in hand. Fox is ready with a plastic bag he found for her to put her wet clothes in, but now he finds himself unable to get up from the couch. His clothes are huge on her small frame. Her shoulders peek out from the neck of his Kamino Forensic Society shirt, which falls past her hips. She has his sweatpants tied as tight as they can go, but they still hang loose and baggy around her waist. She’s also taken her hair down from the bun she had it in.

He’s pulled from his daydreaming by Riyo pointing to the bag he’s holding, “is that for my clothes?”

“ What- oh, yes. Yes it is.”

She piles her clothes into the bag and ties it up.

“Sorry my clothes are so big on you,” he blurts out apologetically.

Riyo smiles something closer to the smile he’s used to seeing. “Don’t apologize, I couldn’t be comfier,” she says, thumbing the hem of the shirt. “I’d actually like to know what fabric softener you use.” 

Fox laughs and shrugs, making a mental note to ask Thire to teach him how he does laundry.

“Shall we then?” Fox says awkwardly, reaching to hold the door open, chauffeur style. 

Riyo guides them across campus. Fox holds the umbrella and her messenger bag, slung over his shoulder, as she stands close to him, clinging to his arm. 

The rain is falling much softer now, but still steady. Fox likes the way the rain looks falling around the light posts that line the sidewalk. It reminds him of the old black and white detective movies he used to watch growing up in one of his foster homes. 

They walk in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Riyo speaks, “I’m sorry about the other day.”

“It’s ok,” he responds automatically.

“No, I shouldn’t have left like that...and I shouldn’t have avoided you afterward.”

“I’m sure you had your reasons,” he says, offering her an out.

Riyo looks up at him for the first time since they left his dorm. “You’re a very kind person Fox,” she says, and he can hear the warmth behind her words. “The truth is I have terrible public speaking anxiety. I’ve frozen during so many presentations in countless classes and it’s so embarrassing.” She presses a hand to her forehead and begins to rub her temples. “I’m afraid I might have a reputation in the department at this point.”

Fox doesn’t say anything, but nods along. She has his full attention, as usual. 

“So when you asked to hear about my research the other day, I got thrown right back into every class I ever froze up in,” she confesses.

They’re silent for a few steps. The rain is so light now that it falls almost like a mist, but Fox continues to hold the umbrella.

“See,” he says smirking. “You had your reasons.”

Riyo smiles and turns away, blushing, but Fox manages to catch a glimpse first. “Yes but it wasn’t fair to you,” she says. 

“No, maybe not,” he says matter of factly. “But I’m really glad you told me,” he adds, trying his best to match the warmth in her voice. 

Riyo stops in her tracks to face him, a few stray tears forming in her eyes. All Fox has to do is smile at her and her arms are around him again. She hugs him tight for a few seconds before letting go to grab his free hand in her own. They walk hand in hand the rest of the way to her apartment, talking about nothing and everything. 

They can see lights on inside, alerting them that Padme is home. Fox finally takes this moment to close up his umbrella.

“Thank you so much for walking me home,” she says. “And for saving my life,” she adds quickly. “And for letting me borrow your clothes,” she adds even quicker.

Fox chuckles. “Anytime you feel like getting hit by a car just let me know and I’ll be there,” he jokes, but his expression turns quickly solemn. “Just promise me you’ll be careful though.” He gives her hand a squeeze. 

She squeezes back, “of course.”

The butterflies in Fox’s chest are fluttering wildly now while his heart threatens to beat right out of his chest. He rubs his thumb along her fingers, watching their hands. Riyo is quick to intertwine their fingers and Fox revels in the sensation of how soft her skin is. He looks up to find her staring at him. A soft smile plays at her lips as she gives their hands a small tug, pulling him down and the two of them ever so slowly closer together. He can smell the earthy, floral scent of her shampoo as she leans in, close enough to-

“Do you want help practicing your presentation?” Fox blurts out, wide eyed and blushing.

Putting her weight back onto her heels, Riyo sighs into a smile. “Yes, I think I’d like that.” She squeezes Fox’s hand with both of her own. “If the master karaoke singer can’t help me then I’m truly doomed,” she laughs.

They say their goodbyes, Riyo quickly leaning up to give Fox a peck on the cheek before he can pull away again. She leaves him frozen and blushing on the sidewalk as she runs into her apartment. He watches her go and only moves once she’s safely inside. He brushes the tips of his fingers lightly over his cheek. 

He practically skips back to his dorm, his smile doomed to be permanently affixed to his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you to everyone who's read along so far!   
> I'm really enjoying writing this and I hope you're enjoying reading itヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ  
> I welcome any critiques or comments ♥


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just boys being dudes ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ and some friendly school and job prep ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) We love the career advancement

Fox awakes to the sound of a ping. He reaches for his phone and checks the time, 7:17 AM. This is the latest he’s slept in in months, but it feels good, and he doesn’t work today, so he lets himself linger in bed a little longer. 

Seeing the new notification bubble, Fox opens the mail app on his phone to find an email from the Coruscant Crime Lab. He bolts upright in bed and his eyes move to the subject line, ‘Fall Internship Application’. He clicks the email and his eyes begin scanning, hanging on the end of every word. He gets to “we'd like to schedule a time for a phone interview” and plummets back onto his bed, letting out a huge sigh of relief.

Fox lumbers out of bed a while later to find all three of his roommates watching cartoons in their common area, getting ready for the gym. Fox inhales a bowl of cereal and readies himself to join them, gym bag in tow.

Stone and Thorn immediately break off to spot each other with weights while Fox and Thire take to the indoor track (mainly because Thire hates treadmills). 

“You didn’t come to Rex’s party the other night,” Thire says casually from the ground reaching for his foot to stretch his hamstrings.

Fox grumbles in agreement with the statement, pulling his leg up behind him to stretch his quads. 

“Or his party the week before that.”

Fox grumbles again.

“You’ve been missing a lot lately actually,” Thire says, with an overly sassy amount of side-eye as he switches to his other foot.

“You know I have a job right?” Fox deadpans.

“Yeah and I know your schedule,” Thire retorts, facing his roommate. “You’re MIA even when you’re not at work lately.” 

Fox says nothing and continues his stretches, avoiding eye contact.

Thire stands up, ready to start his run. “Well whenever you’re ready to give us any updates about you and Riyo, we’d love to hear it,” he says grinning, taking off down the track.

Fox gapes at him even though Thire has his back to him now. Fox bolts down the track after him, now determined to turn their casual run into a race.

After their workout, and fresh from the locker room showers, the boys head off to have an early lunch. It’s Stone’s turn to pick so they already know that they’re going to the burger place next door to Clone Coffee. 

Walking by the storefronts, they pass the coffee shop and are not at all surprised to see Riyo sitting at a table inside, glued to her laptop, croissant in hand. Thorn is quick with his heckling and whistling but is quickly silenced by Thire’s hand around his mouth. Thire practically drags him into the burger shop, Stone trailing behind and laughing as Rex gives them all a middle finger from behind the counter of Clone Coffee before being slapped upside the head by 99. Trying hard to maintain his cool composure, Fox follows last, smiling at Riyo who looks up when she hears the commotion as they walk by. She smiles back and it’s all he needs to put an extra spring in his step as he enters the burger shop.

Fox manages to survive lunch without any further commentary on his personal relationships, largely thanks to Thire’s quick subject changes when the topic is breached. Instead, they spend almost their entire lunch debating and theorizing where they think the current season of the new Star Trek series is heading. Or rather, Thorn and Thire debate while Stone stuffs his face and Fox glances out the store front window at every movement that catches his eye. 

Upon returning to their dorm, Stone and Thorn quickly become glued to the tv to finish off a new video game. Stone had bought it during finals week, and it turned out to be the only thing to provide either of them any sanity and relaxation during that time.

Thire plops onto the couch to watch them play, scrolling through his phone mindlessly as he sinks further into the worn cushions. He’s about to ask Fox to bring them their chips and the leftover dip from his mini fridge when he notices that Fox hasn’t settled into their dorm since they got back. In fact, he’s changed his clothes and has his keys and wallet in hand.

“Heading out again?” Thire asks.

Thorn immediately pauses the game to give Fox a smug grin. Stone takes advantage of the moment to go retrieve their snacks from Thorn and Thire’s room, apparently reading Thire’s mind. 

Fox hesitates, fumbling over his words to come up with an excuse before settling for the truth, “I’m, uhh, going to see Riyo...”

No sooner than he finishes his sentence, Thorn begins whooping and hollering like his life depends on it, putting a sour scowl on Fox’s face.

“What did I miss? Are they dating yet?” Stone asks, returning with chips and dip in hand.

Thire mouths ‘JUST GO’ to Fox who doesn’t hesitate to take advantage of the offer. Fox can still hear Thorn from the end of the hall of their dorm and only achieves peace when he steps out into the open air. 

For Fox, walking was always just a way to get from point A to point B. He would walk to work or class completely on autopilot, his only thoughts being about the next task he needed to accomplish. Now, with a destination that he truly looks forward to, Fox can see the appeal. He slows down and takes his time, mainly to stretch out the 15 minute walk and give himself more time to shove down the butterflies that form on the way there. But instead of zoning out, Fox admires the architecture of the buildings or he takes note of when new landscaping is installed, little things that make the walk all the more enjoyable.

Padme answers the door in a flurry when he arrives. She briefly welcomes him in before rushing back to her room. Fox steps inside, furrowing his brow and giving Riyo a shrug. “She leaves for Naboo tomorrow,” Riyo says from where she stands in the kitchen entryway, putting Fox at ease that he wasn’t the cause of Padme’s curt greeting. “Anakin is picking her up today and is going to drive her to the airport tomorrow.”

They hear the sound of zippers and wheels hitting the floor as Padme enters the living room, wheeling her suitcase behind her.

“Have you got everything?” Riyo asks, clapping her hands together.

“I went through my packing checklist three times so I better,” Padme sighs, plopping down onto their couch, only to jump right back up at the sound of knocking on their front door.

Still standing near the front door, Fox opens it and Anakin enters. Their greetings don’t last long however before Padme is leading Anakin back through the front door so they can be on their way. Anakin waves hello and goodbye helplessly as he’s pulled away and the door shuts.

“She seems excited about her study abroad,” Fox says.

“She’s been a ball of nerves this past week, and as much as I love that girl, I’m going to enjoy this little respite as much as I can,” Riyo laughs. 

“Well don’t get too comfortable,” Fox retorts with a playful grin. He sits himself down on the couch, his attentive gaze aimed in her direction. To a stranger, Riyo might appear the picture of the calm, but Fox knows her enough now to see the slight tension in her small frame and the uneasiness showing in her eyes. 

Riyo takes a deep breath and, without going off for her notes like she usually does, fully enters the living room and begins presenting her introduction followed by the key points from her research project. Fox leans forward on the couch, listening intently. He makes a few mental notes for some suggestions and improvements, but doesn’t intend to disrupt her rhythm and waits for her to finish. 

She goes on for almost ten minutes before she finds herself starting to ramble and loses her momentum. She groans and grabs her notes from the coffee table before sitting down next to him on the couch. 

“Now I know you’re going to say that that was a complete failure,” Fox says, turning to face her, “but-“

“You mean because it was a complete failure?” Riyo flops back on the couch, throwing her notes up to cover her face.

“No, hear me out,” Fox adds quickly and sincerely, “because you have a real talent for public speaking.”

Lifting her notes to peek out from under the papers, Riyo quirks an eyebrow at him and frowns.

“I mean it,” he says. “Just a bit more practice and you’ll be giving Padme a run for her money.” Fox had only ever seen videos of some of Padme’s speeches and past presentations she’d given at student council meetings or at protest marches, but it was all he needed to know that speaking was Padme’s strongest skill and it would take her far. Riyo insisted on watching videos of Padme to help with her own public speaking skills. 

Setting her notes back onto the coffee table, Riyo places a hand on Fox’s knee and it sends a short circuit straight to his brain. 

“Thank you Fox, that means a lot coming from you.”

“Anytime, I’ll always be your number one cheerleader,” he nearly fumbles to say.

He goes to place his own hand on hers, but is met with only his own knee when she pulls away, her notes once again attracting her attention. Fox plays it off casually, straightening out the fabric of his jeans. She doesn’t notice. 

“I have an interview in a few days.” Fox says later when they sit down at the kitchen table to a dinner of Chinese takeout. It was Riyo’s turn to pick and she'd been talking Fox’s ear off about this Chinese restaurant down the street for days now.

Riyo is about to dig into her box of vegetable lo mein when Fox’s news delightfully startles her.

“Fox!” she exclaims, dropping her chopsticks into the takeout container, “so you finally heard back! That’s amazing!”

Fox never liked being the center of attention. But when he’s with Riyo, he finds himself enjoying her attentiveness. He looks away, smiling, and clumsily prods at his wontons with his own pair of chopsticks. Riyo taught him how to use them the first time they had Chinese food together. That’s been the closest they’ve gotten to holding hands again since that first night. 

“Well if you want any help preparing just let me know,” she says, picking her chopsticks up out of her food. “I might not be much when it comes to talking to crowds, but I know how to sell myself one on one.” She winks at him and his wonton slips from his chopsticks back into his own takeout container. “And it’s the absolute least I could do after everything you’ve done for me.”

Fox blushes slightly, “you know you don’t owe me anything,” he says and pauses for only a few seconds, long enough for Riyo to raise one very disbelieving eyebrow at him. “But that being said,” Fox adds quickly, “I will definitely take you up on that offer.” 

“Good,” Riyo beams at him and continues her own meal.

They finish their dinner while covering their usual topics of conversation. Riyo asks for updates on Fox’s roommates, talks about all of the stray cats she saw on campus that day, and constantly pushes Fox to tell her more about what he’s learned in his Forensic Science classes. He always happily obliges, only mildly surprised at her lack of shock or disgust at some of the more macabre details, especially over dinner. 

After dinner, Riyo moves back into the living room wanting to take a look at Fox’s resume and cover letter that he submitted with his internship application. He emails the documents to her from his phone and offers to take out her kitchen garbage, more out of necessity than as a courtesy. He peeks into the living room when she doesn't respond and sees that she’s already perched herself on her couch, iPad in hand, reading his cover letter. He decides he doesn’t need permission and ties up the nearly overflowing garbage and takes it out to the dumpster behind the building. He stops to pet a few of the stray cats that hang out there, wondering which one of them is the one that Riyo has nicknamed “Jar Jar”.

Later, after setting aside Riyo’s speech practice and Fox’s interview preparation, feeling satisfied with how much they accomplished for the day, Fox finds himself settled on the couch as Riyo’s laugh echoes through her tiny apartment. Fox leans back into the cushions, a wincing smile spreading across his face. 

Riyo sits by the arm of the couch with her legs curled up under her. She clutches at her wine glass with both hands. Since she’s going to be gone all summer, Padme had let Riyo know that she was welcome to any bottles that were left in the wine rack. Fox doesn’t usually drink wine and has yet to acquire a taste for the stuff, but he indulges himself in a glass with her as he sinks into the middle of the couch. He enjoys it more than he thought he would and before he knows it, Riyo is pouring him a second glass.

Fox just finished recounting the tale of his first encounter with a bottle of red wine. Fox was 16 and somehow by the end of the night he had spilled half the bottle on his foster parents’ bed sheets. The sheets ended up stained and, having the mind of a teenage boy, he thought he could hide it by dying the whole sheet set red. What happened instead was all of the laundry that went through the machine for the next two cycles came out tinted in varying shades of pink. His foster parents were sympathetic with his mistake, despite Fox realizing that he easily ruined hundreds of dollars worth of clothes and linens. Despite his decision to want to live on his own and be his own provider, Fox still reaches out to them on occasion when he needs the kind of help or advice that only a parental figure can provide. 

Riyo has to set her glass down to clutch at her sides, her laughter rattling through her tiny frame. Fox starts to laugh too as the mood becomes contagious. 

Riyo’s hair rests in a messy bun atop her head, a few loose strands hanging past her ears. She wipes a few tears from her eyes as she comes down from her laughing fit. 

Fox feels warm and flushed and, if he’s honest, a little drunk. Fox blames this feeling for his sudden boldness as he leans over to brush a strand of hair behind her ears, letting his hand linger against her neck. She lets out a small gasp before leaning into the touch. He isn’t sure if it’s her pulse or his that he’s feeling as she places a hand over his, holding it in place so he can’t pull away. He sets his wine glass down so he can brush the rest of her hair behind her other ear, framing her face with his hands. She completes the look, holding that hand in place as well with her own.

Fox feels a dizzying sense of adrenaline wash over him, fearing his heart might actually beat out of his chest. He leans in close enough that he can feel her breath and stops. 

His eyes move across her face, down to her lips. “Can I kiss-“ he doesn’t finish before she’s closing the gap to kiss him, her mouth moving against his. It isn’t the best kiss, but it makes Fox’s heart flutter viciously feeling her lips against his. She tastes like the fruity wine they’ve been drinking, and the smell of her perfume makes him lightheaded.

She snakes her arms around his neck, pulling him closer and he wraps an arm around her waist. 

They part for a moment, staring at each other, eyes wide. 

Fox brushes her hair behind her ears once more. He doesn’t think he’s ever felt this happy in his entire life.

A very sudden, and very aggressive, knock at the door startles them both, Fox shifting back to his spot on the couch in milliseconds, heart hammering away in his chest as his eyes bolt to the front door. 

Riyo moves from the couch, striding to the door in irritation, and looks into the peephole. Fox stands to join her at the door, not liking the thought of an unexpected guest at this hour. Riyo sighs and opens the door to find her very exhausted RA. Her pajamas hang loosely around her and she has heavy bags under her eyes.

“Hey Riyo, it’s almost midnight and I’m getting noise complaints from several of your neighbors and-“

“Yes, Barriss, I’m so sorry,” Riyo cuts her off in her best diplomat voice. Barriss has been Riyo’s RA for the two years that she’s lived in this on campus apartment, and she’s always been a stickler for the rules, which Riyo learned the hard way. Riyo has been chastised several times for lighting candles in her apartment, which she still thinks is a ridiculous rule, and was sent several warning notices about the strict no pets policy after the time she took in a few stray kittens before finding them new homes. “We’ll be quiet I promise, you won’t hear a peep for the rest of the night,” Riyo continues, and Fox notes the slightest hint of sarcasm in her voice.

Barriss only sighs through her nose at Riyo. “Just please keep it down Riyo,” she says before lumbering away towards her own apartment. 

Riyo closes the door gently before turning to lean against it, letting out a deep, exaggerated sigh. Fox snorts before letting out a low, continuous laugh.

“Stop it!” Riyo smiles up at him, trying not to laugh herself. “You’re going to make her come back!” Riyo slaps at one of his arms and Fox decides that this is easily one of the best days of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had virtually no time to work on this at all, life is busy (but in a good way).  
> So if you're still sticking around with me for this, thank you!!! (~‾▿‾)~♥  
> I'm planning on being somewhat MIA for the next two weeks so it might be a little bit before my next update...but thank you all for your kind comments and enjoying this with me ♥


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